‘CODE OF HONOR’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This episode didn’t leave an impact on me, especially when I came to re-watch it again for this review. I couldn’t even remember what it was about, so therefore it didn’t impress me back in 2005.
‘Code of Honor’ is considered one of the weakest episodes of the ‘TNG’ series in ‘Star Trek’s history as well as considered one of the worst. I don’t consider it a terrible episode, but it’s not great either.
In this episode, the Enterprise visits the planet Ligon II. There Captain Picard and his crew meet the Ligonians, led by Jessie Lawrence Ferguson as Lutan. The Enterprise crew need a vaccine from them.
This vaccine is to help cure a terminal disease on a Federation world. In the process however, Tasha Yar gets kidnapped and chosen to be Lutan’s first woman before she ends up in a fight to the death.
From what I’ve read in reviews and wiki pages on this episode, the Ligonians were going to be something completely different. They were originally to be a reptilian species with a code of honour.
That would make sense considering the Ligonians are alien and need to live up to their code of conduct. Instead, they end up appearing as another form of humans of an African-American culture.
There’s also something that doesn’t make sense to me. Picard presents a gift to Lutan and his people that belongs to China’s Sung Dynasty. Why couldn’t he give something from Africa’s history instead?
Many criticise this episode for being openly racist, especially with the African-American culture being forced into the Ligonians. Well, even if it was, I wouldn’t have considered this to be so openly racist.
I suppose it can be called racist, considering there’s only black people in the Ligionian community. But I’d like to be open to interpretation, thinking there are African-American cultures in outer space.
Even so, the episode still isn’t strong enough in terms of story. There’s not a lot of action happening in the episode, despite the building up to the single combat scene between Tasha Yar and Yareena.
Many of the cast and crew were unhappy with this episode as well, including Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart. That is pretty understandable, especially since Season 1 is not a great ‘TNG’ season.
Denise Crosby however gets to shine as Tasha Yar in this episode. It was interesting to see her in a situation where Lutan had fallen for her and she was fighting in the single combat to get the vaccine.
There’s an interesting scene where Tasha demonstrates to Lutan and Hagon how she fights a holographic man with aikido in the holodeck. This is where Lutan gets easily impressed by Taska’s skills.
This episode also introduces the friendship between Data and Geordi in the ‘TNG’ series. This is shown when Data visits Geordi in his quarters and attempts to share a joke with him, which is funny.
There’s also development on Wesley Crusher’s character in this episode. Wesley gets a chance to sit at the conn desk on the Enterprise bridge, after Beverly persuades Picard to let him come on board.
An interesting point to mention is that Worf barely appears in this ‘Star Trek’ episode. One wonders where Worf was during the time of the episode, as he must have been away on holiday somewhere.
As well as Lutan, there’s Karole Selmon as Yareena. Yareena is already Lutan’s first woman and she becomes angry when he chooses Tasha to replace her. She’s so determined to fight Tasha in combat.
There’s also James Louis Watkins as Hagon, Lutan’s secondary. Hagon gets knocked about by Tasha Yar when Lutan’s party first visits the Enterprise. But Hagon soon gets a new title by the conclusion.
The fight scene between Tasha Yar and Yareena was tense for me. This was because they used weapons with poisoned spikes on them. I did wonder whether Tasha would escape Yareena’s wrath.
‘Code of Honor’ is not the greatest ‘Star Trek’ episode in ‘TNG’s first season. It barely left an impression on me and it was interesting to see how many fans, critics and reviewers hated this one.
‘Code of Honor’ (TNG) rating – 3/10
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